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Jul 12, 2011

Bad Taste In Boys - Interview with Carrie Harris

I am SO happy to have the hilarial Carrie Harris at the blog today! I'm telling you, if you don't follow her on Twitter you are missing out. Take a sec and read my quickie review for Bad Taste In Boys HERE then pop on back over.

Your road to publication was a long one. How many manuscripts did it take until you found the right one - Bad Taste In Boys?
Hello, UNDERSTATEMENT! Yeah, my road was crazy long. I’d been writing for fifteen years when I sold BTIB, although I didn’t even attempt a novel until about five years ago. Then I heard about NaNoWriMo and figured I might as well give it a try. I started out with a fantasy satire that somehow turned into a political satire halfway through; I still don’t know how that happened, but at least it convinced me that I could write that many words. Then I wrote a really horribly depressing book about exorcism, and finally, I said to myself, “Sparkly merpire princess?” (Because that’s what I call myself in my head.) “Maybe you should write something you’d enjoy reading instead of trying to be all profound. Because let’s face it. You are NOT PROFOUND.”

I wrote my first YA and got an agent. My second YA was Bad Taste in Boys.

Describe BTIB in three words.
Campy zombie mayhem!

*totally agree with that description!

Kate is a pretty great heroine, what were some qualities that you insisted on her having?
It always cracks me up how people are all “THE ZOMBIES ARE ATTACKING!” in the movies, and nobody stops and goes, “Really?! Are you SURE they’re zombies? Did you take a representative sample into the lab for analysis?” Because I sure as heck would say something like that! So I wanted her to be extremely logical, and I think sometimes that works in her favor and sometimes it doesn’t.

Otherwise, I just wanted her to be a total nerd, because I’m on a quest to prove that we nerdy types can in fact be cool. Or at least cool-ISH.

Are zombies the new vampire?
I don’t think they are simply because it’s hard to make rotting bodies SEX-AY, and I think that’s a big part of the vampire craze. It’s hard to make lurching and rotting hot. I don’t think sparkles would even help, although now I’m tempted to try that because I think it would be heckloads of funny.

How much did your publisher pay Angelina Jolie to appear on this awesome book cover?
Actually, she did it for free. Zombies secretly run the United Nations, and she IS a Goodwill Ambassador, after all.

Actually, I’m kidding. I still look at that cover and ask how in the heck my designer heard “zombie football players” and thought, “Hmmm…when I think of undead guys in shoulder pads and helmets, it immediately brings to mind images of sugar lips.” Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s brilliant! But I also think it’s hilariously twisted.

My daughter just turned 15, what was your favorite at fifteen book?
I owned and loved everything by Stephen King. Back then, I was a huge bookworm, and I was really into anything with monsters in it. I literally read my copy of IT until it disintegrated in my hands. It’s crazy to realize that my hobby at fifteen directly affected my career at much-older-than-fifteen!

How will you celebrate your big release day?
I’m actually in the process of planning a huge, super sekrit launch event, and I’m beyond excited about it! Otherwise, I’m really hoping that I can hire some people to dress up as zombies and hide in the woods while my friends and I chase them down with squirt guns and swords made out of PVC, because I’ve always wanted to do that.

I have to admit that I’m only half kidding. I really WOULD like to do that.

So you are part of this fun little group of debut authors, tell me a little about what Class of 2k11 has done for you and your book.
Gosh, where do I start? The 2k classes are supposed to be marketing groups, but it’s so much more than that. Yes, my book has gotten out in front of hundreds of librarians, teachers, and bloggers who might not otherwise have heard of it, and that’s invaluable. But it’s just as valuable to have a go-to support group at my fingertips. We share advice, opportunities, potato smacks, and zombie jokes. Without my fellow Class of 2k11ers, I would probably be in a corner drooling right now.

Okay, so I’m still in a corner drooling, but it’s HAPPY drooling.

If Kate was to make an appearance in another 2k11 title, which would it be and why?
Kate gets around. Now that she knows about zombies, she’s been infiltrating other books to make sure they haven’t been infected. You can find her buried under a pile of leaves at the bottom of the hill Felton likes to climb in STUPID FAST, in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace in THE FAERIE RING (she recommends the cream puffs), and she even managed to miniaturize herself and sneak into the pages of the Steinbeck book featured in THE PULL OF GRAVITY. She attempted to hide in THE SWEETEST THING, but the cakes looked so good that she couldn’t resist climbing out of the oven to eat them.

Man, this is too fun. I could do this all day, but my classmates might rebel. Remember that potato smack thing I brought up earlier? I wasn’t kidding about that.

Any tour stops for the Lonestar State?
Not yet, but I’m only now starting to plan my in person events. I’m crossing my fingers, toes, and other crossables, because I’d really love to come visit!

Some of uber fans decided to celebrate Carrie's release by zombifying ourselves our rock sugar lips. Here are mine! My husband and I had a fun time trying to get just the right shot. So this week....my Twitter avie will be the pic below... Thx, Cari for organizing everything!

6 comments:

I always love your interviews and learn the most interesting things. Such as, Angelina Jolie's smackers being on the cover. Is that really so? I never thought of it before but it does make perfect sense. :)

Fun interview! And it's awesome to see someone rise out of the NaNo horde with a great manuscript, rather than just another trunk project. And Thank You for reminding folks that zombie body parts falling off during romantic moments is *not* sexy. I've kinda seen too many authors go that route recently and it's more disturbing than anything.

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Outreach Supervisor at Westbank Community Libraries in Austin, Texas, PR Director for the Texas Teen Book Festival, Social Media Manager for TLAs Young Adult Round Table, committee member for TLAs Intellectual Freedom committee, and Co-Founder of Literary Lonestars. Proud to be the Mama Bear to Texas YA/Kidlit bloggers.